Reuters appoints tech hotshot to its Board of Directors
The Works see strong festive trading as shares spike over 9%
The Works (LON:WRKS) have seen their shares spike on Thursday as the firm reported record trading over the festive period.
The stationary, books, toys and arts and crafts retailer said to shareholders that like for like sales in the 11 weeks period rose by 1.5%, notably this showed an impressive period of trading across Christmas as the period ended on January 12.
The company has been forced to increase discounting to boost sales, as the retailer has seen slowing sales post Christmas.
For its first-half, the six months to October 27, revenue climbed by 5.4% year-on-year to £96.4 million from £91.5 million. On a like-for-like basis however, sales were 3.6% lower during the period.
Its pretax loss narrowed to £8.5 million from £9.1 million last year which has been reflected in todays share price surge.
The Works held its interim dividend at 1.2 pence per share.
The Works also noted that 33 new stores were opened and five were closed, bringing the total estate to 525 stores as at 27 October 2019. Two stores were relocated during the Period and a further net 13 stores were added following the period end.
Gavin Peck, Chief Executive Officer of The Works, commented:
“I am pleased to report that the Company delivered a solid performance during the key Christmas trading period with like-for-like sales up 1.5%. This was driven by growth in both stores and online. However, to ensure we are well placed to deliver profitable growth in the medium-term we have taken action to refocus our strategy by opening fewer new stores, with a view to driving improved performance in our existing estate and increasing our focus on cost savings. We remain confident in the prospects for the Company with the business trading-in line with the Boards’ full-year expectations.
“I am delighted to be taking on the role of CEO. The Works is a great business with fantastic colleagues providing a compelling and differentiated offering for our customers. Building on the Company’s established foundations, I look forward to leading The Works in its next phase and creating value for all of our stakeholders.”
The Works outlook
“Since the end of the Period, the Group has delivered an improved LFL sales performance and continues to trade in line with the Board’s expectations for the full financial year. As noted above, we have taken proactive action to refocus the Company’s growth strategy to help ensure a return to profitable growth. We remain confident of the Group’s growth opportunities given our differentiated proposition, offering a wide range of new products at outstanding value, through our unique multi-channel offering, which continues to resonate well with customers.”
Chief Executive Departure
The firm also reported that its Chief Executive is set to depart following a nine year tenure with the firm.
Kevin Keaney left his post as CEO with immediate effect, and has stepped down from the company board.
Chief Financial Officer Gavin Peck, who took on the role in April 2018, has been named as the new CEO, also with immediate effect. He was formerly the commercial director at greeting cards seller Card Factory PLC (LON:CARD).
The Works said its current Head of Finance Rosie Fordham as been appointed as the interim CFO.
Commenting, Chairman, Dean Hoyle, said:
“On behalf of the Board and all of our colleagues, I would like to thank Kevin for his leadership and commitment to the Company over the last nine years. He has helped establish The Works as a leading multi-channel value retailer, has built a fantastic culture and successfully guided the Company through its IPO in 2018. We wish him all the very best for the future.
“We are delighted to appoint Gavin as CEO. Since joining The Works he has played a key role in growing and strengthening the business amidst a challenging retail backdrop. He brings significant industry knowledge as well as commercial and finance experience to lead the business into the future.”
Commenting, Kevin Keaney said:
“After an incredible nine years, I believe now is the right time for me to hand over to a new CEO to lead The Works through its next phase of development. Whilst this has been a very difficult decision, it feels like the right time to take a break, spend time with my family and think about what I want to do next.
“It’s been a privilege to lead The Works over these past years and more recently as a public company. It is a tremendous business supported by incredibly talented colleagues. I am immensely proud of all that we have achieved together and I would like to thank the Board and everyone at The Works for their support through the years. I am delighted to be handing over to Gavin who I have worked closely with over the last 20 months and I am confident that under Gavin’s leadership the business will go from strength to strength.”
The Works bounce back following November warning
In November, the firm warned shareholders about their next trading update statistics, alluding to lower profit levels.
The Works warned warned that full year pre-tax profits are expected to come in ‘significantly below’ the current consensus of £7.3 million.
During the six month period, ending in October total revenue rose 5.4%, although even stripping out the impact of last year’s Squishies fad, like-for-like sales were down 1.9%.
British retail
The Works have seemingly managed to shrug off the slumping British High Street, however it has not been all good for other firms.
Notably, due to the slump on the British high street Mothercare (LON:MTC) announced that the company has entered administration, which will cease all business operations in November.
All 79 of Mothercare’s UK stores are set to shut as administrators get the ball rolling to close this case.
The UK firm “has been loss-making for a number of years”, but international franchises are profitable, PwC said.
In December, it was announced that the baby goods firm was not making sufficient profits and that management had failed to find a buyer.
Joint administrator Zelf Hussain said: “This is a sad moment for a well-known High Street name,” adding that Mothercare “has been hit hard by increasing cost pressures and changes in consumer spending.”
“It’s with real regret that we have to implement a phased closure of all UK stores. Our focus will be to help employees and keep the stores trading for as long as possible,” Mr Hussain said.
The Works have impressively bounced back from a poor update back in November, although shareholders have been warned about lower post-Christmas sales, there can be a sense of relief with the update provided today.
Shares in The Works trade at 34p spiking 9.68%. 16/1/20 11:44BST.
Moss Bros expected adjusted loss to widen following tough retail environemnt
Moss Bros Group plc (LON:MOSB) have given shareholders a mixed update on Thursday morning.
The firm said that it expects its adjusted loss to widen within the financial year following a decline in high street retail.
The suit and tailored clothing retailer said it has made “good” progress in the 24 weeks period from July 28 to January 11, despite a challenging retail marketplace.
The retailer rather worryingly reported that it is expecting to report an adjusted pretax loss of £1 million for the second half, which ends this month.
Across financial 2019, the firm reported an adjusted pretax loss of £400,000 and in the 26 weeks period the company has just about broken even with regards to its adjusted pretax profit level.
Total sales for the recent 24-week period were 3.0% below last year and down 3.2% on a like-for-like basis, they noted that two stores were relocated and two closed giving a total portfolio of 128 stores.
Moss remain optimistic in future outlook
Brian Brick, Chief Executive Officer, said:
“As I noted at the time of our Interim Results in September, we are gaining traction across a number of strategic levers which are aligned with our longer-term strategic goals.”
“We have seen more intensive discounting from our competitors and a materially lower level of footfall across the high streets and shopping centres of the UK. Despite this, we have resisted discounting pressures, facilitated by our careful buying plans which have meant that we are holding lower levels of terminal stock to clear. This has been particularly evident in our High Street stores where we were able to focus on delivering our core purpose of styling individuals for on form moments.”
“We continue to deliver against our brand elevating customer value proposition of offering our customers the chance to “Make It Yours”, whether they wish to hire, buy or customise their outfit using our Tailor Me service, which goes from strength to strength.”
“Despite the delivery of progress against our strategic levers, we anticipate the year ahead will continue to be challenging until we see an improvement in consumer confidence and a stabilisation in footfall across UK shopping destinations combined with a re-alignment of occupancy costs to properly balance the costs and rewards of doing business in physical retail stores.”
“We remain debt free, with a strong balance sheet, and are confident in our ability to deliver enhanced returns to our shareholders over the longer term”.”
The Group will announce its Preliminary Results on 25 March 2020.
Moss slip from September Success
In September, Moss reported that they had seen revenues climb in their half year results.
Moss Bros said that, for the 26 weeks ended 27 July, total group revenue excluding VAT amounted to £65.4 million – 1.4% up on the previous year.
Meanwhile, online sales across all platforms grew by 20% when compared to the same period a year prior. Moss Bros added that online sales from all channels now represents 15% of its total sales.
However, the company added that loss before tax widened to £2.7 million, deeper than the £1.7 million figure recorded for the first half of 2018.
Additionally, the firm announced that it had appointed Ted Baker’s (LON:TED) current interim Chief Financial Officer as its new CFO.
Moss Bros said that the current interim CFO at Ted Baker (LON:TED), Bill Adams, will take over the role from Tony Bennett.
Tony Bennett has decided to step down from the company’s board for “personal reasons” and is due to leave the business early next year in February 2020.
Shares in Moss trade at 23p (+2.68%). 16/1/20 11:27BST.Whitbread holds back FTSE with sleepy third quarter sales
Like-for-like sales growth were the most damning area for the Company, down 1.3% year-on-year for the the third quarter and 2.2% for the YTD.
Overseas, however, Whitbread were able to make some headway. The Company were able to expand their operations in Germany, and said its open and committed pipeline had extended to almost 50 hotels. It said that in the UK, it was optimising its network and trialling its Premier Plus rooms across 19 sites. It added that its efficiency programme was in line with its plans and that it expected to deliver FY20 results in line with its expectations.Whitbread comments
Commenting on the update, Company Chief Executive Alison Brittain, stated,
“Whitbread delivered a robust performance in the third quarter, growing total sales by 1%, despite challenging market conditions in the UK. We now have over 80,000 rooms in the UK & internationally, operating under the Premier Inn brand, with a committed pipeline of over 20,000 additional rooms. We also continue to achieve strong results from our efficiency programme, which is helping to partially offset high industry cost inflation and means we are on track to achieve our full year expectations for FY20.
The UK business achieved total sales growth of 0.3% in the third quarter. Our performance in the quarter reflects a good F&B performance and marginally declining total accommodation sales. Weak business and leisure confidence in the regions continued, which was partially offset by the strength of the central London market, where we outperformed.”
“Our growth in Germany remains firmly on target as our confidence strengthens for the long-term market opportunity. We are pleased with the performance of all three hotels we have opened to-date, in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich, and continue to extend the total committed pipeline in Germany. The open plus committed pipeline now stands at around 8,500 rooms across 48 hotels, including 22 hotels from the Foremost Hospitality and AcomHotel acquisitions. We will be opening around 20 hotels through the course of 2020.”
“Despite the short-term economic uncertainty, there remains significant long-term opportunities for Premier Inn in both the UK and Germany. We can access these due to our strong financial position, resilient model and ongoing investment to improve our market-leading proposition. Continuing to invest in growth and optimisation through our disciplined approach to capital allocation ensures we can create sustainable value for shareholders over the longer-term.”
Investor notes
Elsewhere in the British market, Pearson (LON:PSON) dropped 11% during early morning trade, while South32 (LON:S32) reported impressive performance. Since trading began, Whitbread recovered from its drop of over 5%, now down 4.36% or 211.00p, to 4,626.00p per share 16/01/19 11:18 GMT. Peel Hunt analysts reiterated their ‘Buy’ stance on the stock. Its p/e ratio is 28.88%, its dividend yield stands at 2.15%.N Brown shares crash over 24% following profit warning
N Brown Group plc (LON:BWNG) have seen their shares crash over 24% following the issuance of a profit warning.
Shares in N Brown trade at 107p (-24.59%). 16/1/20 11:10BST.
The firm issued a profit warning on Thursday morning which also saw a mixed performance within its retail operations and struggles in its financial services unit.
Within the 18 week period, Brown saw total revenue fall by 5% to January 4. Notably, womenswear saw positive growth of 1.1% year on year, as digital revenue also grew 6.7% following growth in its Simply Be brand.
The Simply Be Brand was one of the standout performers for Brown, as revenue climbed 12% from a year ago and online revenue surged 13%.
In the Womenswear sector, Brown holds brands such as JD Williams and Ambrose Williams.
In this department, both brands such year on year revenue growth of 0.4% and 7.9% respectively, however both brands saw overall revenue declines.
Notably, in the JD Williams brand segment total revenue slumped by 4% and Ambrose Wilson fell further by 9.6%.
Jacamo, one of the menswear brands that the firm holds saw a rise in digital revenue of 3.2%, which pushed overall revenue up by 2.5%.
Brown report mixed trading period
Steve Johnson, CEO, commented:
“This has been an encouraging period of peak trading for the business in a highly promotional market, as we delivered digital revenue growth across both Womenswear and Menswear with particularly strong digital growth from Simply Be and Ambrose Wilson as customers responded well to our ranges. Financial Services revenue was down, reflective of our strategic approach to the retail business and continued tightening of our lending criteria.”
“We are making good progress with our ongoing strategic review and look forward to providing further details at our full year results in April. Our work so far has highlighted the need to have a tighter brand portfolio, a sharper focus on product and a cost base appropriate for delivering sustainable digital growth. At the same time, we will continue to proactively address the accelerating and cumulative external factors which are anticipated to reduce the size of our Financial Services business over the next two years. These will significantly influence the way we will operate our Financial Services business and we are taking proactive measures to ensure that the change is managed appropriately. This is in line with our strategy of becoming a digitally focused, retail-led business.”
“Our expectations remain that the retail market will continue to be challenging and promotional, but we are focused on our clear strategy of delivering profitable digital growth.”
Change of fortunes for Brown
In October, the firm saw its shares bounces following the releasing of its half year results.
The Group, saw its profits surge on the back of a hike in online sales, which now comprise 84% of product revenue.
Despite a 5.4% contraction in Group revenue, the Company swung from a £23.8 million loss to a £14.7 million profit, in a year-on-year comparison of the six month period ended 31 August. Similarly, adjusted EBITDA rose 4.0% to £54.1 million and adjusted profit before tax grew 3.9% to £38.1 million.
The Womenswear market
When looking at the womenswear market, the stand out performer across 2019 was Boohoo (LON: BOO).
The firm lifted its annual guidance this week following strong revenue growth.
Also in the update, the firm said that it had appointed former JD Sports (LON:JD) chief financial officer as its new deputy chair.
Across the four month period, which ended on December 31, the firm said that its revenue had jumped 44% to £473.7 million from the £328.2 a year ago.
Boohoo said that it expects revenue growth for its financial year, which ends on February 29 to be between 40% and 42% ahead of their previous guided range of 33% to 38%.
The firm added that t expects adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin to be 10% to 10.2%, beating its previous guidance of around 10%.
Koovs struggle
Another rival who work in the womenswear department is Koovs (LON:KOOV).
Koovs have seen a poor period of trading, and notably in December were placed into administration.
The India focused online fashion retailer said that it continued to negotiate with major shareholder Future Lifestyle Fashions Ltd (NSE:FLFL) for completing its £6.5 million investment.
“The board expects that the business and assets of Koovs will be purchased from the administrator by a company connected to the company’s largest secured creditor, Waheed Alli, ensuring the continuation of the operating business,” the company said.
“If a replacement nominated adviser is not appointed within one month, the admission of the company’s securities will be cancelled on AIM. The company has no current intention of appointing a replacement nominated adviser,” Koovs added.
The future of Koovs is still being dealt with relevant brokers and legal authorities, however it does not look so bright.
Shareholders of Brown will be worried about the update and the crash in share price.
However, Brown can take away some positives such as the performance of Jacamo within the update.
South32 warn shareholders about cautious coal market within positive interim update
South32 Ltd (LON:S32) have reported an impressive performance across the interim period however told shareholders that the coal sector remains cautious.
For the first half ended December, South32’s alumina production rose 4% year-on-year to 2.6 million tonnes, with Brazilian operations delivering a record performance.
Aluminium production was flat at 496,000 tonnes, which will not worry shareholders.
Nickel production did see a 2% slip in production to 20,600 tonnes whilst silver rose 2% to 6.1 million ounces.
The lead sector saw impressive growth for South32 as there was a rise in production to 55,300 tonnes seeing a 14% growth.
Additionally, Zinc production surged 24$ to 32,500 tonnes, and manganese ore production fell 3% to 2.9 million wet metric tonnes, and manganese alloy put was down 17% to 91,000 tonnes.
The coal sector, which is one of South32’s biggest operations saw production fall 2% to 12.6 million tonnes, as did metallurgical coal output declined by 7% to 2.9 million tonnes.
The miner alluded to tough market conditions for coal across the last few months, which has reduced activity in South Africa.
Shareholders will take note that the firm said that for coal output it expects production to be towards the bottom end of its guidance.
Graham Kerer, CEO of South32 commented
“We continued our strong start to the year, delivering record year to date production at Brazil Alumina and maintaining production guidance across the majority of our operations.
“We have acted decisively during the quarter in response to market conditions, reducing contractor activity at South Africa Energy Coal and higher cost trucking at our South Africa Manganese business.
“Our disciplined approach to capital allocation has enabled us to maintain our strong financial position and return a further US$331 million in the December 2019 half year with the continuation of our on-market share buy-back and payment of our ordinary dividend in respect of the prior six months.
“We have taken further action to reshape and improve our portfolio. We exercised our option to acquire a 50% interest in the base metals focussed Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in Alaska, entered into a binding conditional agreement for the sale of South Africa Energy Coal and progressed the review of our manganese alloy smelting exposure.”
Planned sale of South African coal
The firm said that it will sell its subsidiary coal unit for ZAR100 million in an upfront payment deal, in November.
The miner’s 92% holding in SA Coal Holdings Proprietary Ltd will be bought by a subsidiary of South African coal miners Seriti Resources Holdings Proprietary Ltd, a local community trust, and an employee trust.
Each trust will take a five percent stake each, with Seriti holding 82%.
The remaining eight per cent not included in the deal, is held by industrial investors Phembani Group Proprietary Ltd.
Seriti will make an up-front cash payment of about 100 million rand ($6.8 million), based on an enterprise value of 1.25 billion rand, to acquire South32 SA Coal Holdings Proprietary Ltd, South32 said in a statement.
South African mining scene
A big titan in the mining industry, Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) also operate in South Africa, in similar fashion to South32.
Rio Tinto who are one of the blue chip miners have made announcements that they have worked with Savannah Resources (LON:SAV) to win licenses for operations outside of South Africa.
However, Rio have seen their operations slowdown in South Africa. Rio Tinto gave shareholders a cautious outlook over safety concerns at its Richard Bay Minerals unit in South Africa.
The firm said it has shut down the project over fears for the safety of its employees due to an “escalation in violence in the communities surrounding the operations”.
“There has been an escalation of criminal activity towards RBM employees and one was shot and seriously injured in the last few days. As a result, all mining operations at RBM have been halted and the smelters are operating at a reduced level, with a minimum number of employees now on site. Construction of the Zulti South project has also been temporarily paused,” Rio said.
The miner said it will contact its customers to “minimise potential disruptions”.
As a result of this, Rio said its titanium dioxide slag production in 2019 will be at the bottom end of the guided range of 1.2 million tonnes to 1.4 million.
South32 can be pleased with the update given today, and the firm will be looking to produce a finer string of results across 2020.
Shares in the firm trade at 149p (-1.01%). 16/1/20 10:52BST.
Dow Jones set to beat all-time high despite superficial phase one
“Crossing 29000 once again, the Dow is actually set to push past 29100 for the first time in its history later this Thursday. This despite a persistent sense of dissatisfaction surrounding what the ‘phase one’ deal failed to achievement, and the difficulties of facing the superpowers ‘phase two’ – if there is even the appetite from Washington and Beijing to begin another set of negotiations.”
“With the Dow setting the tone last night, the European indices chose to indulge in a bit of positivity. The DAX once again neared 13500 as it jumped half a percent, while the CAC climbed to 6060 as it rose by the same amount.”
“Lagging behind was the FTSE, which at best added 0.1%; enough to send it to a 3-week high of 7650, but still a disappointment.”
“There were a few things pinning the UK index back. Firstly, the pound rebounded after what has been a week of bad data and rate cut chatter, rising 0.3% against the dollar and 0.2% against the euro.”
“Then there was another wave of weak post-Xmas earnings for the FTSE to swallow. Pearson (LON:PSON) fell 11% following its latest update, investors troubled by both 2019’s operating profit being at the bottom of the firm’s guidance, and the prospect of a further £10 million to £80 million decline in 2020.”
“Whitbread (LON:WTB), meanwhile, tumbled 4.7% as a 1.3% drop in third quarter like-for-like sales drew focus from a 1% rise in total sales growth, alongside a London-driven 0.3% increase in UK business.”
“Providing something of a buffer for the FTSE was Associated British Foods (LON:ABF), which climbed 2.8%. This as like-for-like growth at Primark took the heat off a dip in operating profit margins, while AB Sugar and AB Agri saw 5% and 10% sales growth respectively.”AB Foods hails strong Primark Christmas performance in stable update
AB Foods continue the good run
“Retail selling space increased by 0.2 million sq ft since the financial year end and, at 4 January 2020, 376 stores were trading from 15.8 million sq ft which compared to 15.1 million sq ft a year ago. Three new stores were opened in the period: Seville Lagoh in Spain, Kiel in Germany and Milan Fiordaliso in Italy. In addition, we relocated to larger premises in Norte shopping centre in Porto, Portugal, the Norwich store in the UK was extended and selling space was reduced in two stores in Germany.” “We now expect to add a net 0.9 million sq ft of additional selling space in this financial year. We expect to open 18 new stores together with a number of relocations and selling space will be reduced in a further store in Germany. Trading at our first store in eastern Europe, in Ljubljana, Slovenia has exceeded expectations. As previously announced, we will enter the Polish market with a new store in Warsaw in spring 2020, followed by a store in Prague, Czech Republic. We have now also signed leases for a further store in Poland, in Poznan, and for our first store in Slovakia, in Bratislava which will take Primark to its fifteenth country.” AB Foods concluded “Sales growth in Twinings was driven in particular by herbal teas in the UK and the US, although Ovaltine sales were held back by a slow start in Thailand. Margin benefited from the tea supply chain efficiencies delivered last year. At Allied Bakeries, the operating loss was reduced with progress from cost reductions more than offsetting the loss of contribution from lower sales.”Confidence pays off
The firm saw its shares jump in December, as they gave confident expectations to shareholders. The firm updated shareholders by saying that the company will benefit “materially” from the increase in sugar prices and further cost reduction in its current financial year. Speaking at the company’s annual general meeting, Chair Michael McLintok said the company expects another year of strong profit and margin growth in grocery, with Twinings Ovaltine drink in particular benefiting from a more efficient tea supply chain. McLintock said fast fashion retailer Primark has a strong pipeline of new sites, with margin to be reduced by “only a small” amount year-on-year, hurt by a weaker pound for purchases being largely offset by lower costs in both the cost of goods and overheads. “Our businesses have completed all practical preparations for Brexit and contingency plans are in place should our businesses experience some disruption at the time of exit,” McLintock said. Shares in AB Foods trade at 2,625p (+2.74%). 16/1/20 10:37BST.Trans-Siberian Gold discover Vein 25 near Asacha gold mine
Trans-Siberian Gold (LON: TSG) have given the market another update regarding their Asacha Gold Mine operations.
TSG is focused on low cost, high grade mining operations and stable gold production from its 100% owned Asacha Gold Mine in Far East Russia.
The Company also holds the licence for the development and exploration of the Rodnikova deposit, one of the largest gold fields in South Kamchatka.
The firm said that its newly discovered zone, Vein 25 North is located 400 meters within the east zone of the Asacha mine.
Notably, Trans Siberian said that this new vein has delivered encouraging results.
The company said high-grade gold intersections were obtained in a more or less complex structural environment, with initial drilling results of 133 grams per tonne of gold and 57 grams per tonne of silver at over four meters.
The firm told shareholders that it will continue drilling over the next few months as it plans for a second drill to be mobilized adding to the site.
In addition to the north extension of Vein 25, five other target areas will be drill tested during the year.
To achieve this, the firm said that its board has approved a 2019/20 drilling program totaling 25,000 meters with the potential for further expansion.
Alexander Dorogov, CEO of Trans-Siberian Gold commented:
“We are very pleased with the strong operational performance delivered in 2019 and are accelerating our investment in the exploration and development of the Asacha Gold Mine. The recently conducted drilling programme has yielded some exciting, high grade mineralisation results at Vein 25; this is an important development target for the extension of resource mineralisation. We have an ambitious exploration programme planned in 2020 and with drilling continuing we look forward to updating the market on our progress.”
Trans-Siberian bounce back
Last week, the firm gave shareholders a disappointing update. The firm saw their shares fall when it said that analysis showed the resource at the Asacha gold mine had been overestimated.
The total measured, indicated, and inferred mineral resource for the Kamchatka-located mine has fallen to 313,000 ounces of gold and 675,000 ounces of silver as at the start of December 2019.
The estimate before the results were published was 553,000 ounces of gold and 1.3 million ounces of silver which showed a 43% and 93% drop respectively.
As Trans-Siberian Gold reported in September and October, preliminary internal estimates of Asacha “indicated the existing in-situ resource may have been overestimated”.
The Group will be conducting both underground and surface drilling campaigns during 2020.
A total of approximately 22,000m of surface drilling will target the lateral extents of the Main zone and QV25. A further 2,000m of underground drilling will be conducted on the Main zone at depth.
The update today shows the resilient nature of Trans Siberian to bounce back from last weeks update, and shareholders will hope that the Russian miner can strike gold across 2020.
“The resource will be supplemented by additional ounces targeted in an accelerated exploration programme as well as existing stockpiles. A new drilling campaign of approximately 8,000 metres around Vein 25 in the East zone is already underway. We are confident we have the time, capital and skills to upgrade the mineral resource at Asacha. Formal guidance for 2020 will follow shortly, but at this stage we anticipate annual gold production to be in line with recent years.”Shares in Trans-Siberian Gold trade at 59p (+0.85%). 15/1/20 15:40BST.
Ten Entertainment see higher sales and growth across financial year
Ten Entertainment Group PLC (LON: TEG) have seen their shares in green on Wednesday afternoon.
Shares in Ten Entertainment trade at 317p (+2.26%). 15/1/20 14:45BST.
The firm updated the market by saying that total and like for like sales were higher in its recently ended financial year.
Ten also praised the benefit of its technology re-engineering program which has caused results to climb.
Ten Entertainment reported total sales of £84.1 million in its financial year, which ended on December 29.
Notably, this figure showed a 10% increase over the previous financial year’s sales figure of £76.4 million.
Additionally, like for like sales growth was 8% which has been steady across the last few years of trading for the firm.
According to Ten Entertainment, 70% of its estate now benefits from cost efficiencies obtained through its Pins & Strings program, which reduces maintenance costs.
The firm also noted that across the year, four or more of its sites were refurbished including a “prime location” which “has received additional investment as a concept site format to trial new entertainment experiences”.
Ten expressed plans to open an inaugural new build site within the first six months of 2020, and this will strengthen its pipeline.
Its financial 2019 adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation is expected to align with market expectations.
Duncan Garrood, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“Ten Entertainment has had another strong year, delivering profitable sales growth. Our ever-evolving offer, providing family entertainment underpinned by tenpin bowling, is thoroughly enjoyed by increasing numbers of customers.
“We continue to innovate, increase our footprint and improve the quality of our offering which positions us well for future growth.”
TEG expects to announce its full-year results on 25th March 2020.
Ten make progress from July
In July, the firm announced sales growth and site acquisitions during the first half, and partially attributed its positive figures to digital marketing success.
The Group saw sales and like-for-like sales growth of 9.6% and 7.4% respectively, during the first half. The Company said growth in LFL sales remained stable and it owed the recent improvement to the extended period of hot weather conditions during May and June 2019.
It added that it had expanded its estate with acquisitions of sites in Southport in Q1 and Falkirk in Q2.
Both sites are existing bowling facilities, which will now undergo ‘Tenpinisation’ before contributing to profits in 2020. Ten Entertainment sites now number at 45.
Hollywood Bowl – rivals in the market
A competitor in the industry, Hollywood Bowl (LON:BOWL) have seen a successful time of trading in similar fashion to Ten. In December, the firm reported profit growth as its shares rallied.
Hollywood Bowl said that, for the year ended 30 September, profit before tax grew by 15.3% to £27.6 million, compared to the £23.9 million figure recorded the year prior.
Meanwhile, total revenues grew by 7.8% to £129.9 million, up from last year’s £120.5 million.
Hollywood Bowl added that it has six further bowling centres in the development pipeline from 2021-2023.
The company said that food and drink revenue was up 6.3% on the year before, amounting to £35 million. It said that more customers chose to spend as a result of the launch of its new menu and its enhanced bar and diner experience.
“I am delighted to report another year of strong profitable and cash generative growth, demonstrating the consistent delivery of our proven, customer-led strategy,” Stephen Burns, Chief Executive of Hollywood Bowl, commented in a statement.
The update from Ten is impressive, but shareholders still have to remember that in Hollywood Bowl a big competitor looms. At a time where British businesses are struggling, shareholders should be content.
Ten Entertainment will hope that they can build on the impressive financial year and continue to report growth and profit for shareholders.
